The disclosed invention is a ladder holder for mounting a ladder relative to a retaining wall typically used in ground excavation. Retaining walls are a common sight in urban construction sites because it is vital to protect the workers working in these sites from the collapse of the surrounding ground. As with any construction site, an access means is needed in order to facilitate the access of workers and equipment into the site. Due to the lack of room in the site, ladders are predominantly used as opposed to more mechanized alternatives such as elevators. However, ladders cannot be used without some way of supporting the ladder or attaching it somewhat fixedly to a stable part of the excavation site. This is partly due to the fact that the ground at the bottom of the site is likely uneven, so using the ground to support the ladder is neither reliable nor safe. One available structure to which the ladder can be attached and supported safely is one of the retaining walls. In addition to a stable and safe means of supporting the ladder, another important consideration to make is to ensure that the ladder can be stowed when not in use to afford more space in the site. Furthermore, a valuable feature of such a mounting device would facilitate a worker inside or outside the site to return the ladder to a working position.
Prior art examples describing ladder hooks that could potentially be used to fix a ladder relative to a retaining wall include U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0158783 to Carlson, U.S. Pat. No. 1,018,877 to Chickering, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,845,468 given to Steblinski. However, the ladder holders described by these patents have some drawbacks. Firstly, the prior patents do not include a means of guiding a proper angle of the ladder relative to the retaining wall. It is important for the ladder to be supported at an angle relative to the wall so as to afford safer access into and out of the site and to ease the carrying of equipment up and down the ladder. The patent publication for Carlson describes a ladder system with two rung supports that may allow for the ladder to be supported at an angle; however, the upper rung receptacle does not engage its respective rung in such a way that will prevent any lateral movement towards or away from the bar to which the support brackets are attached. As such, the angle of the ladder will not remain fixed relative to the mounting portion of the device. Also, Chickering's patent has two slots with an attachment hook at the upper end of the device that couples the ladder hook to a wall. Nevertheless, the attachment hook does not allow the device to be arranged at a fixed angle relative to an attachment surface. Furthermore, the patent granted to Steblinski uses a single rung supporting element with a flange at the free end of the rung supporting element to position the ladder at an angle to the attachment surface; however, this configuration affords the ladder little stability when positioned at an angle due to the reliance on a narrow flange to prop the ladder against the wall at an angle. A second shortcoming is that the prior art examples do not provide a secure means of stowing the ladder when not in use, so as to reduce the risk of the ladder being knocked off the device by a worker in the site. While the patent given to Steblinski affords the ability to suspend the ladder vertically when not in use, the storage mechanism does not restrict the movement of the ladder when in its storage position so that the ladder can be knocked out of place with little effort by pushing the ladder upwards. Lastly, the prior art examples do not describe a ladder holder that is able to mount to a retaining wall, which is unique in its structure because it contains a corrugated panel and a beam spanning the top edge of the wall that has edges extending beyond the panel on either side thereof. The corrugated panel may be problematic as the corrugations may limit the locations where the device can be stably mounted, while the beam necessitates an attachment or retaining mechanism that must fit a non-uniform structure (i.e., the entire retaining wall).